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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

football

It's July, which means most of us are starving for college football, but our insatiable desire for it has yet to be satisfied. I had been playing around a lot on NCAA Football 14 (hi, Denard), which in dynasty mode offers many options in the way of conference rules and realignment. This got me thinking about a method to solve a lot of the college football discrepancies between conferences and, at this point, teams in the same conference, but in separate and huge divisions.

I over-eagerly posted a crude version of this under Seth's Big Ten post, but another MGoEmployee suggested I post a clearer, more organized version as a diary. So, here goes.

We'll start with the conference rules. All ten conferences will have at least 12 teams and thus two divisions and a conference championship game. This eliminates the argument about who does and doesn't have a conference championship game. I also placed Notre Dame in a conference so they are on the same field with everyone else, as well. The only two teams not in a conference are Army and Navy. By their independence they abstain from playoff participation. If theoretically they would like to participate in the playoff tourmanent, they would need to join a conference (American, C-USA, something).

* CONFERENCE RULES *

Conference Rules

Sched.

Type

Non-Conf. Schedule (Hawai'i Exemption Applies)

Nov. Night Games

Weekday Games

Start Conf. Games

# of Conf. Games

Champ. Game Location

ACC

Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

Thursday

Week 4

8

Charlotte, NC

American

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

Thursday

Week 4

8

Best Conference Record Hosts

BIG 16; Heartland

Protected Rivals

1 FCS

Pick Any 2

Yes

None

Week 4

9

Dallas, TX

Big Ten

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

None

Week 4

8

Indianapolis,IN

C-USA

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

Thursday

Week 4

8

Best Conference Record Hosts

MAC

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

Thursday

Week 4

8

Detroit, MI

MWC

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

None

Week 4

8

Best Conference Record Hosts

Pac-12

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

None

Week 4

8

Best Conference Record Hosts

SEC

Protected Rivals

1 FCS

1 Challenge

Pick Any 2

Yes

None

Week 4

8

Atlanta, GA

Sun Belt

No Protected Rivals

1 FCS

Pick Any 2

Yes

Thursday

Week 4

9

Best Conference Record Hosts

Ok, so that is all sorted out. Now, let's get to actually who is in these conferences.

Conferences with protected rivals will show those protected rivals on the same row. Conferences without protected rivals will simply list the members in alphabetical order.

* CONFERENCES, DIVISIONS, AND TEAMS *

ACC

(Atlantic)

ACC

(Coastal)

Boston College

VA Tech

Clemson

GA Tech

Florida St

Miami

Maryland

Virginia

NC State

North Carolina

Wake Forest

Duke

Heartland 16

(Big Eight)

Heartland 16

(Southwest)

Colorado

SMU

Iowa St

TX Tech

Kansas

Rice

Kansas St

Houston

Missouri

Baylor

Nebraska

Texas A&M

Oklahoma

Texas

OK State

TCU

American.

(West)

American.

(East)

Cincinnati

C Florida

E Carolina

Connecticut

Louisville

Rutgers

Marshall

S Florida

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

W Virginia

Temple

Big Ten

(West)

Big Ten

(East)

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Michigan

Minnesota

Michigan State

Northwestern

Notre Dame

Penn State

Ohio State

Wisconsin

Purdue

Conference USA

(West)

Conference USA

(East)

LA Tech

Florida Atl

Southern Miss

Florida Int'l

Tulane

Memphis

Tulsa

Old Dominion

UTEP

UAB

UTSA

UMass

MidAmerican

(West)

MidAmerican

(East)

Akron

Ball State

Bowling Green

C Michigan

Buffalo

E Michigan

Kent State

N Illinois

Miami U

Toledo

Ohio

W Michigan

MountainWest

(Mountain)

MountainWest

(West)

Air Force

Fresno St

Boise St

Hawai'i

Colorado St

Nevada

New Mexico

San Diego St

Utah St

San Jose St

Wyoming

UNLV

Pac-12

(North)

Pac-12

(South)

BYU

Arizona

Oregon

Arizona St

Oregon St

California

Utah

Stanford

Washington

Southern Cal

Washington St

UCLA

SEC

(West)

SEC

(East)

Alabama

Tennessee

Arkansas

S Carolina

Auburn

Georgia

LSU

Florida

Ole Miss

Kentucky

Mississippi St

Vanderbilt

Sun Belt

(West)

Sun Belt

(East)

Arkansas St

Appalachian St

Idaho

Georgia St

New Mexico St

Georgia Southern

N Texas

Middle Tennessee State

Texas St

S Alabama

UL-Lafayette

Troy

UL-Monroe

W Kentucky

This is, in my mind, a great way to get some of those old rivalries back, while keeping the conferences' integrity when it comes to geography generally sound.

Now, let's get back to the games.

Before we address the method of deciding a national champion, I had an idea that I thought would be pretty fun. However, that idea and the playoff format works off of conference seeding. Conferences would be seeded every season based upon various metrics (I'm not going to go into methods for seeing conferences, but I'll leave it open-ended. For example, you could use a combination of polls, records, strength of schedule, etc.) For this exercise, I arbitratily chose seedings for each of the 10 conferences, but under this setup it would be fluid and change each season based upon the previous season's results. The seedings I chose are below:

Seed

Conference

1

SEC

2

Big Ten

3

Pac-12

4

Heartland16

5

ACC

6

American

7

Mtn West

8

C-USA

9

MAC

10

Sun Belt

Now, the idea that I think would be extra cool and would give us a lot more better matchups earlier in the season AND force schools to play teams of their own caliber, is the "Challenge" system. Teams are matched up against teams from adjacently-seeded conferences for an early non-conference game, say in Week 1, 2, or 3. The teams are matched up based upon the previous season's conference record. The games will be at campus sites and will count just like any other game would. Even seeds would host the games, so, for instance, the #2 seed from one conference would host the #1 team from another conference. Every conference will participate except the Heartland 16 and the Sun Belt, since those conferences play 9 conference games. The matchups will be set up accordingly shown in the tables below, and hypothetical matchups based upon the conclusion of the 2014 season are shown in those same tables. (Spoiler: some luscious matchups emerge.)

SEC - B1G Challenge

2015 Matchup

(From 2014 season)

SEC1@B1G2

Alabama @ Michigan St

B1G1@SEC2

Ohio St @ Miss St

SEC3@B1G4

Georgia @ Minnesota

B1G3@SEC4

Wisconsin @ Mississippi

SEC5@B1G6

Auburn @ Iowa

B1G5@SEC6

Notre Dame @ LSU

SEC7@B1G8

Florida @ Illinois

B1G7@SEC8

Michigan @ Tennessee

SEC9@B1G10

S Carolina @ Penn St

B1G9@SEC10

Northwestern@Arkansas

SEC11@B1G12

Kentucky @ Purdue

B1G11@SEC12

Indiana @ Vanderbilt

Pac-12 - ACC Challenge

2015 Matchup

(From 2014 season)

Pac12(1)@ACC2

Oregon @ GA Tech

ACC1@Pac12(2)

Florida St @ Arizona

Pac12(3)@ACC4

UCLA @ Duke

ACC3@Pac12(4)

Clemson @ Arizona St

Pac12(5)@ACC6

SouthernCal@Maryland

ACC5@Pac12(6)

North Carolina @ Utah

Pac12(7)@ACC8

Stanford @ NC State

ACC7@Pac12(8)

BC @ BYU

Pac12(9)@ACC10

Washington @ Miami

ACC9@Pac12(10)

VA Tech @ Cal

Pac12(11)@ACC12

Washington St @ Wake

ACC11@Pac12(12)

Virginia @ Oregon St

American - MWC Challenge

2015 Matchup

(From 2014 season)

AAC1@MWC2

Cincinnati@ColoradoSt

MWC1@AAC2

Boise St @ C Florida

AAC3@MWC4

Marshall @ Fresno St

MWC3@AAC4

Utah St @ Louisville

AAC5@MWC6

E Carolina @ Air Force

MWC5@AAC6

San Diego St @ WVU

AAC7@MWC8

Pittsburgh @ Hawai'i

MWC7@AAC8

Nevada @ Temple

AAC9@MWC10

Rutgers @ New Mexico

MWC9@AAC10

San Jose St @S Florida

AAC11@MWC12

Syracuse @ UNLV

MWC11@AAC12

Wyoming @ UConn

Conference-USA - MAC Challenge

2015 Matchup

(From 2014 Season)

CUSA1@MAC2

Memphis@Toledo

MAC1@CUSA2

NIU @ LA Tech

CUSA3@MAC4

UTEP @ BGSU

MAC3@CUSA4

WMU @ UAB

CUSA5@MAC6

ODU @ Ohio

MAC5@CUSA6

CMU @ UTSA

CUSA7@MAC8

FIU @ Akron

MAC7@CUSA8

Ball St @ UMass

CUSA9@MAC10

FAU @ Miami U

MAC9@CUSA10

Buffalo @ Tulsa

CUSA11@MAC12

Tulane @ EMU

MAC11@CUSA12

Kent St @ S Miss

Aren't the top half of those great? Even the tip top of the Group of 5 Challenges are pretty good viewing. I'd watch Cincinnati-Colorado State and Boise State-Central Florida.

Now, after the Challenges, and Rivalry Weekend, and The Game, and Championship Saturday, it's time for the playoffs. Here's how it would work. The SEC and Big Ten, as the top two seeds in this hypothetical format, would head up two different brackets. The left bracket, with the SEC, would be the SEC, the lower seed remaining from the (7), (8), (9), (10) matchups, and the Heartland (4) and ACC (5). Winners of SEC v 7, 8, 9, or 10, and Heartland v ACC would play in a Final Four matchup at a rotating New Year's Six site. The right bracket, with the Big Ten, would be the Big Ten, the higher seed remaining from the (7), (8), (9), (10) matchups, and the Pac-12 (3) and American (6). Winners of Big Ten v 7, 8, 9, or 10, and Pac-12 v American would play in a Final Four matchup at a rotating New Year's Six site.

The College Football Final would be played at a host site that bid for the rights to host the game on the 2nd Sunday of January at 8:30pm ET.

(Army-Navy would keep its slot on the 2nd Saturday of December at 4:30pm ET).

Championship Saturday

(1st Saturday in Dec.)

Playoffs, Round 1

(2nd Saturday in Dec.)

Playoffs, Round 2

(3rd Saturday in Dec.)

Playoffs, Final Four

(January 1, New Year's Six Sites)

College Football Final

(2nd Sunday of Jan.)

SEC(1)

BYE

v lower seed remaining of (7), (8), (9), or (10)

(6:40pmET)

v winner of (5) @ (4)

(8:30pmET)

Big Ten (2)

BYE

v higher seed remaining of (7), (8), (9), or (10)

(12pmET)

v winner of (6) @ (3)

Pac-12 (3)

BYE

v AAC (6)

(10pmET)

v Big Ten (2)

Heartland16 (4)

BYE

v ACC (5)

(3:20pmET)

v SEC (1)

ACC (5)

BYE

@ H16 (4)

(3:20pmET)

v SEC (1)

American (6)

BYE

@ P12 (3)

(10pmET)

v Big Ten (2)

Mtn. West (7)

v SBC Champion

(9pm ET)

@ SEC or Big Ten IF WIN

C-USA (8)

v MAC Champion

(12pmET)

@ SEC or Big Ten IF WIN

MAC (9)

@ C-USA Champion

(12pmET)

@ SEC or Big Ten IF WIN

Sun Belt (10)

@ MWC Champion

(9pm ET)

@ SEC or Big Ten IF WIN

So there you have it, folks. I wish I knew how to make a bracket to show more clearly how my playoff vision would work, but hopefully it wasn't too complicated to figure out. Really enjoyed coming up with all this and thinking about all the possibilities. Cheers.

Some might enjoy his runs but I realize others may need tissues after seeing all those offensive lines actually open up HOLES for the running game (unlike the last few years.) For that, I'm sorry in advance.

He was 3-1 against OSU, 3-1 against MSU, 2-1 against ND and 4-0 in bowl games. He was also 4-0 against Penn State and 4-0 against Wisconsin. Let's get back to that, shall we?

I know this may be a little pre-mature, but if you are like me, I can't get enough info regarding our upcoming football season. I cannot take any credit whatsoever for these videos, but they are two pretty good hype videos I found on the internet.

I am an idiot and could not figure out the enbed (even though I have done it before properly.

It will truly be an actual Youth Day experience. The eBay whores will have to find some other way to shamelessly hound Harbaugh for autographs.

Thing has completely done a 180 from what it was in 2011. It was basically an eBay whore gathering that clogged lines, forcing many of actual fans, many of them children, to leave empty-handed as the event didn't last long.

The Michigan Football Youth Day will have a strong emphasis on youth and will include activities around the stadium themed for kids. The traditional autograph session will be held at the concession stands around the concourse.

Youth, eighth grade and younger, that sign up to become members of the Kids Go Blue Club can enter into a contest to ask a question to Coach Harbaugh, Michigan's J. Ira and Nicki Harris Head Football Coach, during the media day portion of the day. Five (5) Kids Club members will ultimately be chosen. Coach Harbaugh will be meeting with media from 12:40-1:10 p.m.

The 2015 team will be introduced on the field in the south end zone to the fans in attendance starting at 1:15 p.m. The players will be introduced by their position coach, and a group photo will be taken at the conclusion of each position group. The official team photo will be taken after the conclusion of the player introductions. Select fans will be allowed on the field during position group photos and will have the opportunity to watch the official team photo as it is taken in the west stands.

Following the conclusion of all photographs, players will make their way to the concourse to sign autographs for 60 minutes. Members of the 2015 team will be seated in the concession stands throughout the stadium concourse. Players will be divided up by position groups and will be positioned around the main concourse.

Members of the Kids Go Blue Club presented by the University of Michigan Credit Union are eligible for exclusive access to the field for team introductions as well as autograph priority. Head coach Jim Harbaugh will sign autographs for a group of select KGBC members on the Mortensen Plaza, located between Michigan Stadium and Crisler Center on the east side concourse.

If it wasn't for UNLV, and instead of UNLV Michigan had, say, a UCF type team (which is coming in 2016, look out), M's schedule might be the toughest this season, but UNLV should provide a major breather.

Utah and BYU are physical, tough tests and Michigan will have to score to beat Oregon State (which hopefully won't be like scaling a mountain given Oregon State's defense).